7. Storm in the South


"They're here."

"So Tseten was right…"

"So it would seem."

"What will we do?"

"They won't be able to access the temple, the passages are not known to them."

"I fear that it won't be enough."

"I agree, we should proceed with our security protocol."

"Such measures haven't been taken in centuries…"

"We haven't been in this situation for centuries."

"Talking doesn't solve our problems, we must act now or suffer the consequences of inactivity."

"What is our decision, brothers?"

"I say wait and see."

"I say we act."

"I second it."

"We should act."

"In that case, since most brothers have agreed on it, we shall proceed with the security protocol."


Groups of monks and students ran down the mountain paths to the gathering grounds near the air bison shelters. The council of elders had issued an order for every monk and student to stop with what they were doing. The gathering was already filled with many monks and even more students, the past few years the air nation had experienced a population boom and all of the children born during those years needed to be trained. The younglings wore the traditional student garments, the long-sleeved yellow shirts partly covered by an orange shawl and sash covered the upper body, while the lower body was covered by leather boots and double layered pants. The lower layers, brown of color were tucked into the leather boots just below the knees. The upper layer was fully connected to the lower layer underneath the orange sash, which served as belt, and loosely to the trouser legs' ends within the leather boots. All the children, pale skin shining in the faint sunlight, had shaved their heads, as had the elder monks, who sported the distinctive tattoos, all according to Air Nomad tradition. The council of elders' members all donned pale orange robes, they wore large necklaces, some made of wood, others of simple rope and sported lengthy beards or mustaches in contrast to their bald heads. Most of the gathered didn't know why they were summoned, gatherings like this only happened when a new master was to be anointed or a new monk to be introduced after birth. The abbot of the Southern Air Temple, chairman of the council, took some time to silence the chatter around him.

"Brothers, friends," he spoke, his booming voice echoed in the deep valleys surrounding the temple, "some of you might have heard what rumors master Tseten spread over the past week and, I'm sorry to say, his words have been proven to be true. Galleys transporting warriors and all kinds of war machines have landed on the beaches near our home and they're marching for the temple as I speak." Worried mumbling rose from the gathered crowd, puzzled faces turned sorrow. Younglings looked up to their masters, anxiously, the youngest didn't understand what it all meant. Small groups of monks discussed how to react on the coming threat, the abbot let it all happen. The five council members waited patiently, even though time was running short, the approaching forces were no real incentive to hurry. To the people from the Southern Water Tribe, the precise location of the Southern Air Temple was unknown and the mountain passages leading to the temple were hard to locate. Tseten, however, wanted the council to hurry when he got to the temple, yet the council had tested his patience, not wanting to believe Tseten's words, even though they respected the former Avatar's teacher. When other monks spotted the southern fleet landing at multiple places near the temple's location, the council eventually was persuaded.

"Brothers, please," the abbot spoke again, silencing the crowd in mere seconds, "I know how all of you must feel, conflicted, I know, I feel conflicted as well. However, we must put aside our conflicted feelings in order to think clearly. Fear and confusion will only cloud our mind, calm yourself and you'll understand that what I'm going to say is the right thing to do."

After the abbot finished speaking, the gathered monks dispersed, pacing to all ends of the temple. Eventually, the monks were evenly divided over the temple grounds in multiple rings. The inner ring, located at the base of the temple's main tower, comprised of the council members and the eldest masters of the temple, including master Tseten. Several rings around it were made out of masters, talented students and the students who were nearing mastery, the outer rings included a few monks and the youngest students.

"I still think this is wrong," one of the council members said as the abbot started bending the air around him in a small, but increasing, circle.

"No harm will come to our enemies or us if we do it this way," Tseten replied, who, like the other council members started to aid the abbot, making the air current increase in size even more.

"That may be so, but think of what we are causing to happen elsewhere on this world. The air we are using is drawn from the area around us. If we continue with this plan, we will cause storms all around the southern hemisphere!" No one reacted to the protesting monk, ring after ring of air benders mirrored the abbots motions. The wind was moving fast around the temple like a gigantic tornado, which kept increasing in size. After minutes of intense effort, the abbot finally commanded, his voice, powered through his air bending could be heard everywhere on the temple grounds, to push northwards, which every monk did. It resulted in a strong wave of wind moving to the north, where the southerners had landed.

On impact, warriors were thrown into the sea, unharmed, but the ships and all the instruments of war stationed at the coast were utterly destroyed. Water benders were immediately occupied with rescuing their companions who couldn't bend and salvaging whatever remained of the fleet. The few remaining intact ships had to transport every single warrior to safety. The Southern Air Temple remained unbothered for months to come, the monks now feared for the fates of the brothers and sisters at the other temples. Messengers were sent out, which all brought back an identical message. The other temples hadn't been assaulted, nor had any soldier shown himself near the sacred places. For the moment, the Air Nomads were safe. The monks' actions had, as was foreseen by one of them, consequences for the rest of the southern hemisphere. Due to the sudden change in the wind currents, storms raged over large parts of the South Pole and the southern Earth Kingdom, some were mild, others were strong and the outcomes were always different from one another.


Gaofang was a small hamlet about a quarter day's journey to the west from Gaoling, a quiet place with a population of about fifty people. Gaofang was more similar to Hia-Pao in terms of architecture. The houses were small and made of wood, all of them were built along a central dirt road in between the trees of the surrounding forest. The people of Gaofang lived from the hunt, parties would scour the forests in the area in search for game meat, hides or furs to sell in Gaoling. Gaofang was known for its high quality leather, the people specialized in processing it, manufactured by the greatest of tanners and leatherworkers. The hamlet hosted a small inn, the place where Kukuh, Sali, Sen and Ol'Pong had stayed for the night, the Green Fir Inn. Its owner had welcomed the group hospitabily, knowing Sen's father, and offered them a free stay when Sen told him about Kukuh's identity. The inn itself was less welcoming, its rooms were small and damp, the floors, upon which they had to sleep, were hard and cold. The next day, they'd all woken up with aching backs, yet that didn't stop them; they prepared to leave. At the moment they left the inn, a messenger from a western coastal village arrived to inform the inhabitants of Gaofang of a landing on the west coast. The Southern Water Tribe had landed slightly north west of Gaofang and were now marching towards the hamlet in order to reach Gaoling.

"Now what do we do?" Sali asked downheartedly. The fastest way to Omashu had now become too dangerous with the southern threat along the way and travelling eastwards wasn't an option either, that meant travelling all the way to chameleon bay and through the Si Wong desert, a journey which they wouldn't survive.

"We could just try sneaking by the southern armies," Kukuh suggested, but his suggestion was quickly turned down by all the others. Trying to sneak past the southern armies was too big a risk to take, especially since the southerners seemed to be hunting for the Avatar. Taking the risk and getting caught would mean risking the life of Kukuh and the future of the entire world.

"What if we go over the mountains?" Sen prompted, pointing at the dark mountains to the north.

"That is a possibility," Ol'Pong responded. The old man had been quiet since the group heard the message, he had been thinking of what Sen had just touched upon. "There is a path over the mountains, but taking that path is dangerous as well," he paused, thinking shortly, "but I guess it's safer than our other options."

"Well, where is that path?" Kukuh asked.

"It's between Gaoling and this place. There, beyond a small gate lies a narrow path over the mountain tops. The people here call it, the Steep Path."

"Why?" Sen asked, regretting his dumb question immediately.

Sali responded, since it was towards Sen, sarcastic as always,: "Maybe because the path goes up to the mountain tops and is therefore steep?"

"Well it can hardly be called a path," Ol'Pong said, sitting down on the edge of the inn's veranda. "The first mile is a path indeed, but beyond that it is more like narrow mountain edges, climbing up against the mountain side, walking over rickety hanging bridges…" The old man stopped talking, sensing that he was discouraging his travelling companions, instead he added a positive twist. "Getting down is easy though," he smiled broadly, awkwardly trying to lift the tension.

"How bad that might sound, it still seems safer than sneaking by the armies to the west…" Sen mumbled, adding, "but it's your decision Kukuh."

"You're right Sen, sneaking past the southern armies is too dangerous and since going east isn't an option either and we can't stay here with the armies coming this way, we can only take that path," Kukuh declared, reaching out his hand towards Ol'Pong. "Come on old man," he said, "bring us past those mountains."


Kala ran through the streets of Qaanqa, the great capital of the Southern Water Tribe, back home, having witnessed the departure of the reinforcement transports towards the Earth Kingdom down at the harbor. She knew that there, her father, the esteemed captain Manak, was fighting in the war against the wicked Earth King's forces. Since her mother had died many years ago when she was still young, too young to remember her, she would have been all alone at home. However, her father had taken care of that problem, she was allowed to stay in the palace with Adok's wife, Kaya, and his youngest son, Akkik. She had to hurry, she had been warned of an incoming storm.

Akkik was nothing like his father, both in appearance and character. Adok being a slender, more solemn person, Akkik was sturdy, nearly brutish. Akkik looked like he was a person who exercised each day, his body seemed to be composed solely of muscles. Combine it with his length and one could truly say that Akkik was an imposing, if not intimidating person to meet. His appearance would make one assume that Akkik was, like his father, a strict, somewhat gruff person, but, on the contrary, Akkik was one of the kindest spirits Kala had ever met. Akkik showed compassion for all living things, helped anyone who looked like he or she needed it, even if it could get him in trouble, which, unsurprisingly often happened. This, in combination with Adok's resentful behavior towards his son, had led to a bad relation between the two. The bond with his mother, however, was strong, as if Kaya saw something in him she had lost, something she didn't see in her husband.

Kala walked by a royally furnished room, a vacant room, Anoak's room. Anoak was Adok's eldest son, the son Adok called: 'his pride', the future chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Anoak was Akkik's half-brother, a son from Adok's earlier marriage to the now deceased Kalia. Kala had wondered at first why Akkik was so much younger than his brother –they differed twenty-four years. Anoak had left for the Western Water Tribe with his wife, Nooa, to spend the Dark Days there. According to Akkik, the sun would still rise in the Western Water Tribe for that time of the year, while Qaanqa would remain covered in darkness. Before they started spending their days at the Western Water Tribe, the prince and his wife would have visited the Northern Water Tribe on the vernal equinox, as they had done ever since they were married. It gave Nooa a rare occasion to see her father, her brothers and sisters. Nooa was Ynook's daughter, the daughter of the most revered chief of the water tribes. Whereas the common folk in the other nations often know nothing of water tribe politics, they would know the name of the great Ynook. It was probably a case of prestige for Adok, to marry his son to Ynook's daughter, since it certainly didn't happen out of love. That, and the fact that Anoak has a very short temper, would conform with the omnipresent rumors about Anoak abusing his wife. If such a thing would happen to Kala, or any Southern Water Tribe girl in that matter, she would make the abuser regret his actions. Nooa, in accordance with northern culture and her status as noblewoman, did not act, but underwent it all.

Kala entered the living room, situated in the right wing of the palace, which contained all the personal quarters of the royal family and their guests. The left wing was mainly used as working space. Compared to the spacious throne room and grand halls of the palace, the living room was a lot smaller and far more cozy. Near the fireplace in the middle of the room, on the rug covered floor, sat Kaya, who had taken over Adok's duties, now that he was fighting his coveted war in the Earth Kingdom. Kaya, a forty-five year old woman, was, compared to her aged husband, a young lady. She looked up from her embroidery, disturbed by the entrance of the captain's daughter. Glancing at the teen, Kaya could see the restlessness on her face.

"Hello dear," Kaya greeted casually, "did you have a nice time at the docks?"

"I guess," Kala mumbled. Her answer was met with silence from Kaya's part, who turned to face her, observing her intensively. Kala noticed it and, since she wasn't willing to talk to the woman, ignored it, crossing the room to get to the hall leading to her bedroom.

"Why are you walking away, child? Is there something bothering you?"

"No," she growled, hearing the anger in her own voice shocked her. She recomposed herself in a split-second, apologizing neatly: "I'm sorry for my rude response milady, but I assure you, I'm fine."

"If there's something on your mind, you can better tell it to me. If you keep on to your thoughts for too long, you might drown in them and become mad," Kaya warned, her voice sounding ever so warm. "Mad like your mother," she added in her thoughts. Such things were better left unmentioned, Manak had insisted on withholding the truth about his wife's demise from his daughter. He reasoned it would be better if his daughter never knew, but what those reasons were, Kaya did not know.

"Really," Kala heaved a deep, annoyed sigh, "there's nothing wrong." She muttered some inaudible words, quickening her steps.

"Kala…"

"What!?" she snapped again, this angered her even more. Somehow, unlike many of her friends, she was easily angered. At that point, she didn't resemble her father, who, from her perspective, seemed to be able to keep his cool in every situation. Kaya smirked, she was right, something was indeed troubling the captain's daughter.

"Now that's not a reaction fitting of an untroubled teenager like yourself," Kaya chuckled, patting her hand on a rug near her, indicating Kala to sit down there. "Come on," she said, "sit." Kala did so, albeit hesitantly; her long silky black hair touched the fur upon which she sat. "I want you to say what's on your mind, and don't lie to me. Know that whatever you might say, I won't get mad about it."

"I…" Kala sighed, "I don't like my father being out there, fighting in the war, while I'm sitting here doing nothing at all."

"You want to go after your father?"

"Yes…"

"I see, so that's why you went to see each departing ship. It made you feel closer to your father, didn't it?"

"I guess so…" Kala responded, shrugging nonchalantly, trying to evade eye contact with the chief's wife. "I might even have tried to get onto one of the ships…"

"You know, that doesn't even surprise me, you've always been a rebellious girl," Kaya responded coolly, she didn't get mad though. The howling sound of the wind could be heard due to the silence that followed, coming through the hole above the fire pit. The growing noise it caused indicated the storm had arrived over Qaanqa and was intensifying every minute. It was better to be inside for the moment, one would freeze to death outside. Kaya stared intently at the young girl next to her, sighing dramatically. "Well… seeing you'd be happier around your father…" Kaya observed Kala's almost unnoticeable reaction, confirming what she had been thinking, Kala missed her father. It didn't surprise her, Manak was the only parent Kala had known. He'd always been home to raise the girl, but now that he was needed in the war, he'd be gone for a long time. "I think you should listen to what your feeling tell you. If you feel like you should follow your father to the Earth Kingdom, you shouldn't stay here and whither in anger and loneliness." Kala seemed to brighten up. "You're far too beautiful to fade away like that."

"Do you mean I just can go?"

"Not just like that, of course, there is a simple catch," Kaya said in effort to dampen Kala's enthusiasm. It worked, if only slightly, at least she had Kala's attention again. "You will be escorted to the main field headquarters by Akkik and his personal guard to deliver my latest reports to my loving husband," she said, adding solemnly, "your chief."

"That's all?"

"Indeed, and since you're wondering why you must do this… I personally do not know your father's whereabouts, but I bet your chief does know and since the reports I need to send to the chief contain some top secret details, I can only trust Akkik to deliver them," Kaya explained, Kala simply nodded.

"I can't really complain," Kala chuckled, "I'm just happy I'll see my father sooner than expected."

"Good, now catch some sleep. You'll leave once the storm has cleared."

Kala sped towards her quarters, leaving the chief's wife at the fire. She shook her head nostalgically, thinking back how she used to be when she was young and still untroubled by the affairs of the tribe. The time before she married the already old Adok, the man who killed her lover out of jealousy. She couldn't see him for weeks after she'd found out what her husband had done, but the responsibility of being the chief's wife eventually forced her to face him. That hadn't been pretty, but all of that was far behind her now. Now her mind was totally set on making sure the tribe was faring well in her husband's absence. She worked through the storm, until the skies had finally cleared and the noise had turned into tranquility.


Being an hour underway, Kukuh, Sali and Ol'Pong walked up front chatting lively about various subjects, one of them being the bending art. Sali revealed to the old man, what the Kukuh and Sen already knew, she was a water bender. When Sali had told Sen, not long after she, lady Fa and Kukuh had rescued him from the soldiers that had taken him captive. Sen was amazed that she had been able to hide it from all the villagers for so long, but Sali couldn't care less about how Sen thought. The boy walked on his own, a few feet behind his three companions, not having said much since they'd left Gaofang. Kukuh noticed and left Ol'Pong and Sali's side, falling back to Sen's side.

"You've been awfully quiet Sen," he said, opening the conversation between the two, "is something bothering you? Normally you're a lot more talkative."

"Well…" Sen sighed, "it doesn't really bother me, but I just wonder what happened to Ling."

"What do you mean?"

"When you left Hia-Pao, and when it got invaded, I was next to Ling for the entire time. After we were told to flee by the captain that sent you away, we heard that the chief had been killed," Sen explained. Hearing the chief had been killed in the invasion shocked Kukuh, he hadn't known. Sen had told most people had fled for refugee camps, he had expected the chief to be amongst them.

"That must have been horrible for Ling to hear…"

"Yeah, some part of him died with his father there," Sen commented sadly, "after he heard, he became like a ghost, he didn't move or talk. I literally had to drag him out of the village."

"What happened afterwards?" Kukuh asked, "Ling wasn't with you when we rescued you."

"After we had escaped the village," Sen continued, "we made way for the refugee camp. I made a wrong call…" Sen sighed again, "I told Ling we should go through the forest, it would be safer, so we went through the forest. That's where we were ambushed…"

After a short silence, Kukuh, fearing the worst, asked: "What happened then?"

"We split up, I ran towards the river, I think Ling ran back towards the burial mounds. I got caught only moments after that… but I think Ling got away… I hope he got away."

Both Kukuh and Sen walked silently behind Sali and Ol'Pong after what Sen had told, until they suddenly bumped into the latter two.

"What's wrong?" Kukuh asked, coming back to his senses after a short moment of confusion.

"It seems were not the only ones on the road," Ol'Pong commented, pointing to a group of people at the horizon, walking towards them.

"And here I thought no one wanted to leave Gaoling," Kukuh said, flustered but happy nonetheless.

"Glad to see my words had at least a little impact…" he thought, although his assumption –he assumed the group was from Gaoling, was proven wrong once the groups met up with each other. One of the front men told Ol'Pong that they were refugees en route for Gaofang, where there was more space to settle down. Kukuh felt inclined to warn the refugees of the coming threat from the west, but they, or at least the front men, did not heed his words. They were willing to undergo the fury of the incoming soldiers this time, all were tired of running and since Gaofang wasn't such a strategic place of any importance, they felt safe enough there. The group passed, slowly, it was a mixed company consisting of men and women, grandfathers and grandmothers, children, their animals, Ling…

"Wait, what? Ling?!"

Sen noticed to and in a surge of relief and uncontrollable happiness to see his best friend, he lunged at the bewildered fatherless boy, crying out: "Ling! I can't believe we'd see you again!" Sen crashed into Ling, who fell to the ground, taking Sen down with him.

Utterly confused, not only because of the fall, but also because out of the blue, having seen Sen for the last time when Hia-Pao was invaded, he encountered him on the road to Gaofang, he yelped out: "Sen what the…?!" He looked around, noticing Kukuh and Sali, which confused him even more. "What are you doing here?" he asked, adding condescendingly, "with them…"

"Well, they kind of saved my life, so…" Sen responded, nearly sounding apologetically, "I decided to go to Omashu with them." He scoffed: "Someone needs to protect the Avatar now soldiers have failed to do so."

"You know, we can hear you…"

"I'm aware of that Sali," Sen responded teasingly, which wasn't received that well by Sali, who trembled a little out of anger.

"But what are you doing here, Ling? I thought you'd went to the refugee camp."

"Well, like you, I changed my mind. I got back to the burial mounds, but all soldiers were gone and the passages were closed, so I decided to go to Gaoling and see where to go from there." He blurted it out so fast, he was left breathless. He gasped for air, only to continue his story: "So when I got to Gaoling, I slept on the streets for about three days, I met up with a few people who were refugees from another village. They were going to Gaofang, saying it was a nice and quiet place. I wanted that peace and quiet, so I thought Gaofang would be a good place for me to stay as well."

"You slept on the street?" Sen asked, quirking an eyebrow, seemingly ignoring the rest of what Ling had said.

"You guys didn't?"

"Well…"

"Uh…"

"Sort of?" Sen, Sali and Kukuh responded awkwardly.

"Better not tell him about our stay at the Fong estate…"

"So you guys are going to Omashu?" Ling asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Sen replied immediately, "you should come with us."

"Uh…" Kukuh and Sali added, "yeah… you should…"

"It'll be just great…!" Sali muttered sarcastically.

"Nah, too much action for my taste, I think I'll just lead a simple quiet life in Gaofang," Ling said. He shoved Sen away, standing up so he could be on his way.

"Ling, stop, let me tell you something," Kukuh called out, jumping in front of his former bully. "If you want peace, I can guarantee you, you won't find it at Gaofang. I don't really like you, how you've been to me in the past, but you deserve to know what awaits you in Gaofang's direction," he told Ling, never having sound more serious. It was enough to stop Ling, it made him listen. "There are troops approaching from the west, they're going for Gaoling and I'm absolutely certain of it that they will pass through Gaofang. Now if you go to Gaofang," Kukuh warned, "I'm sure you'll find only death."

"You're saying that all these people," Ling pointed at the company he had been travelling with, "are walking to their death."

"Yes, but…"

"How can you let them?! You're the Avatar, you should…"

"He warned them as well," Sen interrupted, actually supporting Kukuh in front of his friend, "but they will go anyway."

"Fine… but if I would even want to go to Omashu with you guys, how would you get there? The way to Omashu is to the west as well, so you can't really get to Omashu," Ling objected.

"Well," Sen responded, smiling ear to ear, "our solution is something which you will really like."

"How so?"

"We," Ol'Pong interjected, "will take the route through the mountains. We'll avoid the enemies that way, so if we travel in a fast and steady pace, we should get to Omashu without any problems."

Sen smiled triumphantly, adding persuasively: "Once you get to Omashu you can have some real peace."

Ling felt conflicted, Kukuh could see it, he added: "You want that Ling, don't you? You shouldn't throw your life away to achieve it, there is a better way."

"I… you… you're right… I guess…" Ling admitted hesitantly.

"So you'll come with us?" Sen inquired.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll come with you," Ling answered, already regretting it.

"Great!" Sen exclaimed, running in the direction Ol'Pong had already started walking. Ling followed him, Kukuh and Sali followed last.

"Just great…" Sali sighed.

"Come on Sali, or we'll fall behind too much," Kukuh said, running after the old man and two fellow villagers dragging Sali along. He looked up to the sky, which was darkening. It looked like a storm was approaching.


"Admiral, I'm here to bring you up to speed," Qaran, a water tribe intelligence officer, said to admiral Qanaq, bowing slightly for the high ranking naval officer. Admiral Qanaq, the commander of the Second Southern Fleet, was the most decorated and respected officer in Adok's naval board and after the admiral of the First Southern Fleet and the chief himself, the highest ranking military man of the Southern Water Tribe. He was an eccentric man, preferring Fire Nation naval discipline over water tribe discipline. Most chiefs of the confederacy frowned upon this, but Adok appreciated Qanaq's results. Qanaq, a man well in his fifties, dressed in Fire Nation attire, only in the colors of his tribe, dark cerulean and midnight blue, and his graying hair done in a top-knot.

"Spill it," he commanded sternly. He sat in his tent, behind a low table filled with all kind of maps and papers. Qaran told everything he needed to tell the admiral, who was tapping impatiently on his table the entire time, it had a nerve-wracking effect.

"Finally, four regiments are marching for Gaoling, spread throughout the area. If the message chief Adok sent is correct and the Avatar has escaped Hia-Pao, we will probably catch him on his way to Omashu."

"Perfect," Qanaq commented with a raspy voice, stopping his impatient tapping with a firm smack on the table. "Capturing the Avatar would be… enough of an incentive to make me the next admiral of the First Fleet…" He continued planning new strategies, he had been doing just that before he was interrupted by Qaran. Qaran was about to leave, but Qanaq called him back. "Just before you leave Qaran, I want the Unagi peninsula conquered as soon as possible. We will need their harbors for a steady flow of resources to the front… Command the captains of the tenth and twelfth regiment to make way for the peninsula. Once they've taken it, they should send me a report at once. If they fail to take it, they should come back at once."

"And suffer the consequences…" he added in his mind. Failure was not an option, not after the failure at Hia-Pao. The Avatar should have been caught there, smashing at least the king of Omashu's hope. Now that the Avatar had escaped, there was hope, hope for Omashu and the rest of the Earth Kingdom. It was of paramount importance that the Avatar were never to reach Omashu. If he would reach Omashu, he would be beyond the water tribe's reach for quite some time, enough time to grow stronger, maybe strong enough to escape and continue his training elsewhere, if Omashu were to be under siege. Besieging Omashu on its own would be quite the challenge, there in the middle of the Kolau mountain range. Water will be sparse, the heat will be a great obstacle and then there are the geographic problems. The canyon, the only passage into the city being a small path high above the canyon, the chance of rock avalanches appearing. Then there are the strong walls of Omashu and its famed soldiers.

Seeing Qaran still standing in front of him, he urged him: "Qaran, hurry, there is a storm coming and I want them sent out before it hits us."


The sky had gone dark gray, thunder could be heard from afar, flashes of lightning periodically set the sky alight. It didn't rain, not yet that is, but the wind was started to blow ever more forceful, bending numerous trees, curving their stems, sometimes breaking them. Here and there, a tree fell, most of them had already rotten, others were too young to have formed a strong core. The wind blew from the south-west to the north-east, perpendicular to the direction in which Kukuh, Sali, Sen, Ol'Pong and Ling were walking. Their destination, the Steep Path, was not far away, they had about an hour to go, but the weather was making it hard to get there. Everyone was unable to speak, opening your mouth would mean eating a leaf or two, or catching an elephant mosquito, which would mean a swollen tongue for two days. Ol'Pong tugged at Kukuh's robes, he was still wearing the robes he got at the Fong estate, pointing at the mountainside ahead once he had gotten Kukuh's attention. Kukuh squinted, seeing the entrance to a cave.

"Waiting for the storm to pass might be best," Kukuh thought, startled by loud thunder at the same moment. It would be too dangerous to continue walking through the forest during a thunderstorm. They made their way for the cave, stepping over fallen twigs and branches. It started to rain, only slightly, but that was just an indication of what was ahead. They started to run for the cave, gusts of wind brought them out of balance multiple times, but they eventually reached the cave and entered it without hesitation. They stayed near the entrance, they didn't have a fire yet, so heading further into the cave was made impossible due to the darkness there. Sen ran back into the forest, only to return with some firewood a mere minute later. Sali searched through her backpack, taking a few spark rocks, according to Yao Fong they came from Ba Sing Se, so they could start a fire. The flames of the small fire radiated warmth in a small area around it, engulfing the cave in its light. It seemed that it would have been futile to travel further into the cave, the cave's end could be seen only a few meters into what had been the darkness.

"Pfoo, I'm getting too old to hike during bad weather," Ol'Pong chuckled, massaging his nearly bald, tonsured head. The little hair he had, which was mostly made up of his long beard, which reached to his chest, was colored snow white. Together with his pale, wrinkled skin and warm expression, he was the example of a nice grandfather. Kukuh never knew his grandfather, or grandmother for that part, nor had his parents ever told anything about them. Lady Fa had always filled that spot for Kukuh, actually, she filled that gap for anyone who had no grandparents.

"How long do you think it will take for the storm to pass?" Sali asked.

"I can't say my dear," the old man answered, "I think we'll be here for some time."

"That's not good," Sali commented, "the longer we sit here, the more those soldiers will close in on us." Ling huffed in response to Sali's comment, she shot him an angry glare. "What?!" she inquired venomously.

"You're really as stupid as you look," Ling huffed, shaking his head sniggering softly. "They won't be able to get far as well in this storm. I mean, they will be held back as much as we are."

"Oh, you must feel so smart now," she spat at him.

"Not really, I've always known you're an idiot…"

"Stop it Ling," Kukuh interrupted angrily, "we can't have the two of you bickering all the way to Omashu."

"It's not bickering, it's telling the truth," Ling argued, taunting Sali even more. It was enough to get her to cry, which oddly, didn't satisfy Ling as much as it used to in the past. He couldn't resist make one more sneering comment, but it worked out worse than he had wanted. "Why don't you go home and cuddle your brothers and sisters. If you can't stand a few nasty words, you shouldn't be out here in the big bad world." He only realized afterwards that he had forgotten about the possibility of her family being murdered during the invasion.

Ling involving her brothers and sisters, who'd been so horribly mutilated and killed after that, tore Sali up. All her suppressed feelings, the trauma of that day, the day of the invasion, now all came flooding out. It was a mixture of intense sadness, anger and shame. She didn't want anyone to see her that way, especially Ling, since it would only make her look weaker, so she ran. She ran out of the cave, into the plunging rain. Ol'Pong shook his head, he chastised Ling, Kukuh and Sen, being in a state of shock at first, ran after Sali with the goal to get her back. Ol'Pong and Ling stayed behind, Ol'Pong continued chastising him, but he found it having no effect on the fatherless boy.

"Ling," he said, trying to get the boy's attention again. He sighed deeply, staring at the boy. He was different from Kukuh and Sen, who still had something childlike over them, he really looked like an adolescent. He already seemed to be developing some facial hair, he was more muscled than both Kukuh and Sen and his laryngeal prominence was more… prominent than it was with the other two. Ling was a pale, sturdy but tall boy, with chestnut brown hair in a top-knot, tied up with a dark green sash. His clothing was torn, unlike for example Sen, who was dressed in a brand new tunic. "I don't know what you have witnessed on the day your village was invaded, I don't know what your problem is with Sali, but I do know the five of us need each other in order to get to Omashu, I hope you understand that. You might not like Sali, or me, or Kukuh, you name it, for unknown reasons, but that doesn't mean you should make that clear the entire time. Perhaps, if you really can't see a way you might like us, you could try withhold your distaste of us long enough to get to Omashu. Or, you could try to get to know me, or Sali, or Kukuh, you know, I, or they, could surprise you."

"I never said I dislike you or the others," Ling mumbled, "I just…"

"You have trouble making friends?" Ol'Pong's question was met with silence, Ling looked away. "Don't be ashamed Ling, I know that feeling." He moved towards Ling, sitting down next to him. "You know," he said, his voice changed from chastising to fatherly, "I used to be just like you. It was hard to make friends, but so much easier to pick on them, or their weaknesses. It felt good at first, and for a long time, but eventually, I was all alone. I became depressed, became meaner to everyone and I became a bitter person. I wasn't even an adult then!" He paused for a while, then continued: "My father eventually saw what my problem was, he helped me and finally I started making friends. Eventually, I formed a network of friends who got me a good job. One of my best friends used to be someone I bullied when I was a child."

"I don't think I can…"

"I know that you can, if you would just give it a try. You don't have to be afraid of what might happen," the old man said.

"How would you know?"

"What can I say, it was my job to comprehend people's feelings and since I have some firsthand experience on the subject, I think I can make a pretty good judgment."

"What if I don't believe you?"

"What would make you believe it?"

"If you swear it'll work, I might just believe you on your word," Ling said, narrowing his eyes. He wasn't convinced at all, but, since he wanted his situation to change, he was actually willing to try anything someone suggested.

"I swear it, if I'm proven wrong the Earth King may judge me on my faulty words," Ol'Pong promised bombastically, fiddling on the locket around his neck. He kissed it and muttered the words: "Long may he reign." It was quite strange in Ling's opinion, he knew that there was an Earth King, and he knew that Earth King was more powerful than the king of Omashu, but he never thought of the Earth King in a way the old man was treating the person of the Earth King. He treated the Earth King as if he was a god, like a mere man would care if someone was kissing his picture on the other side of the kingdom, as if he knew that would happen. It assured him enough though, since the Earth King seemed to be close to the old man's heart. Usually, people would swear on their ancestors, but then again, Ling only really knew people from Hia-Pao and everyone there thought similarly on most subjects.

"Fine," Ling grumbled, "I'll give it a try."

"Then I guess you'll have to apologize to Sali once she gets back," Ol'Pong said suggestively. Loud thunder sounded, lightning struck a tree near the cave. The old man, while Ling was still in a state of shock, added: "If she gets back…"


It was a case of dodging pools of rainwater, jumping over fallen trees and running as fast as they could. Sen and Kukuh had lost sight of Sali and even though they were following the trail she had left, they were running on intuition. It was hard to see anything at all, they were running against the wind, so the wind blew rain in their eyes, which made the dodging and jumping quite a delicate activity. What was most scary, were the frequent lightning strikes, scorching trees, or letting them explode, in their vicinity. Loud thunder made it hard for the two to hear each other, so they chose not to say anything. Besides, talking would only cost more energy, energy they needed to get to Sali. It was strange, Sali was never someone to cry that fast, Kukuh had to admit, what Ling had said wasn't nice, but it was something Sali would usually shrug off. She was better at ignoring than he had ever been, something to admire in that situation, but dangerous nonetheless, like lady Fa had said to Sali before she died. That all seemed so far away in the storm, even though it had happened slightly longer than a week ago. Two weeks earlier, Kukuh had nothing to worry about, aside from his earth bending training and his bullies, but at least he didn't have to bear the responsibility of being the Avatar then. Of course, so far he didn't really have to do much in terms of his Avatar duties, but there was always that gnawing thought saying:

"You are responsible for all those deaths, you should have stopped hem…"

He couldn't let that thought go, even though he knew that it wasn't his fault that his people were under attack, and still… still he felt like he could have prevented it.

"Should I have turned myself over?" he thought, like he had thought once before.

"Of course not you idiot!"

There it was again, that voice in his head. He hadn't heard it for some time, he had nearly forgotten its sound and even his presence.

"Turn yourself over will mean you will die!"

The voice was probably right, at this moment, it would mean his death for sure. It was evident after the ambush in the forest, when all his escorts were killed and he had to run for his life. The wounds inflicted during the escape from that onslaught had fully healed, most of them already had been healed during the stay at the Fong estate. That also seemed so long ago, but that happened only a few days ago. He never realized that a lot had changed in the past days, not only on the world stage, but also on more personal areas. For instance, he had grown to actually like Sen, but Ling's return could now change all back to what it used to be, a thought which didn't excite him. Now that Sen actually respected him and treated him as a friend, he didn't want to lose that, certainly not if it meant being put down by both Sen and Ling again, every day.

"Concentrate on the matter at hand!" the voice sounded again, this time more chastising. It didn't take his mind of other things though, but a loud scream after another proximate lightning strike did.

"That's got to be Sali!" Sen roared from afar. Kukuh hadn't noticed it, but Sen had actually run faster than him. It was a soothing thought, Sen seemed to actually care about Sali's wellbeing, which could actually mean that Ling's presence wouldn't influence Sen's behavior. On the other hand, the thought of something terrible having happened to Sali, counterworked that soothing thought. He felt anxious, the lightning strike and successive scream didn't promise good things.

They found her only moments later, lying on the floor, unconscious, a fallen tree laid partly on her, burying her legs on lower back under its wooden mass. It seems that the tree had knocked her down, but it was a rock on the ground that had knocked her out when she hit it with her head. Blood trickled from the place of impact, the bleeding didn't look that bad, it could have been worse. She would survive, most likely, but if she would be able to walk again was uncertain, that depended on how hard the tree had hit her. The tree itself rested on a rock and due to the angle in which the tree rested, Sali legs weren't crushed under the tree's weight. Sen used the rock to lift the tree a bit more so Kukuh could drag Sali from underneath the tree. Kukuh could now have a better look at Sali's wound, luckily for her, it wasn't much more than a bloody, sizeable graze. Her legs didn't seem broken, neither did her back. Kukuh picked her up, carrying her in his arms. It felt like she didn't weigh a pound, but that was probably because of the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Sen cleared the way for Kukuh, using his earth bending to clear out any rubble on the way so Kukuh could run towards the cave unhindered. It took them only a little bit longer to get back, Kukuh couldn't run as fast with Sali in his arms, but they got back to the cave unharmed. Ol'Pong was shocked to see that harm had come to Sali and even Ling seemed affected by Sali's situation.

"We need to apply some bandages on her head," Ol'Pong decided after glimpsing Sali's wounds, "but first we need to disinfect her wound. If we don't it might get infected, she would get a fever and might die because of it." The old man grabbed a pouch he usually wore on his belt, taking out a small vial of green liquid. "Luckily," he said, "I've got a herb mixture with me that will do the trick. It will also speed up the healing process. We need to apply it now and in three hours, after that, you'll see nothing of this wound in two days." He took a piece of white cloth from his pouch and dropped a single drop of the herb mixture on Sali's wound, which was still bleeding. With the cloth, he smeared it over the whole length of her wound and after a few seconds, he was done. "Now, we need some bandages," he noted, "unfortunately, I don't have any with them."

"We don't have any bandages either," Kukuh spoke for himself and Sen. Ling shook his head, indicating he didn't possess the needed item either.

"I don't have any baggage," he added to clarify. Both Kukuh and Ol'Pong panicked, they needed to apply the bandages, otherwise the herb mixture wouldn't work and the wound might still get infected. They hadn't noticed what Sen had been doing, he searched through his backpack, taking out his favorite tunic with long sleeves and tore one sleeve off. He proceeded to tear the sleeve apart into long, but thin strokes of cloth and then presented it to Ol'Pong, who gratefully took them and applied the improvised bandages to Sali's head.

"That'll do, at least for as long as she needs bandages," Ol'Pong said contently, but relieved. "Although we should make sure we get bandages once we reach a village beyond the mountain range," he stressed, "we'll run out of clothes if we keep doing this."

Ol'Pong's comment lifted the tension a little, a chuckle escaped Kukuh's mouth. How bad the situation might be at this moment, the war going on, Hia-Pao laying in ruins, Sali being hurt, he finally had the feeling things were going to get better. The storm was clearing and Ol'Pong pointed out that he had mistaken the amount of time needed to get to the Steep Path, they were only a few minutes away from the path's starting point. Once they're on that path things will get a lot easier, Kukuh reasoned, since the southern warriors knew not of the passage over the mountains. That meant no one was able to get to them, which gave Kukuh a sense of security, safety if you will. Of course, Ol'Pong had told them about the dangers of the Steep Path, but compared to the danger of southern warriors lurking in the forest around them, taking that path would be like a walk in the park. It had stopped raining, Kukuh stepped out of the cave, breathing in the fresh scent the rain had left.

"Yep, things are definitely brightening up," he thought, smiling broadly. With the future looking brighter, his confidence grew a little. Just when he wanted to turn around and get back into the cave, a few rays of sunlight breached through the darkly clouded sky, shedding its warm light on Kukuh's face. It invigorated Kukuh, it felt like it was a cosmic signal. Kukuh didn't know what its message would be, only knowing that it was a positive sign.

"Don't become overconfident Kukuh, you have a tougher journey ahead than you realize!"

There it was again, that voice. Kukuh ignored it, he wouldn't let some weird illusion ruin his good feeling. The goal was set and near, the Steep Path.